It’s been a solid week now with the Apple Vision Pro. When I got it last Saturday, I provided a before and after view of the experience as part of my Weekly Podcasts Games At Work dot Biz (you can find it here Episode 452 – Before and After ). Since then, in order to see if it can be a productive device, I have tried to spend as much time as possible using the headset. In this post, I hope to give you a little look into how that experience has been.
Using Business Applications on the Apple Vision Pro
Let’s begin with how I was able to use the Apple Vision Pro for my day job. I currently work in a large multi-national company. In my capacity as a Technical Strategist, I spend at least half my day on Webex meetings. To that end, I installed the native Webex Vision Pro app, and surprised a few teammates by joining in with my persona. When I tried it on Monday, I had a few people tell me that I looked angry, I guess resting persona face is really not flattering.
Persona Version 1.0
After the 1.1 upgrade I captured a new Persona and was told that it didn’t make me look as angry. I think adding the glasses helped.
Persona Version 1.1
The most productive aspect of using the Vision Pro was that I could get my work MacBook Pro mirrored and then use the environments to block out all the distractions when I working on building presentations, doing email, and working on some development tasks.
As someone, who is easily distracted by others, being able to really focus in allowed me to be more productive. I also liked the ability to have music playing in the Vision Pro, without having to have my AirPods Pro or AirPods Max on. It blocked just the right amount of noise, while still allowing me to be aware of my environment.
Doing Development on the Apple Vision Pro
While my day job coding does not include any work on Apple platforms, I do some personal coding in Xcode, including having an app on the Vision Pro (launch app!), as such I was really excited to see how easy it was to deploy to the headset. Net-net, it is the same as doing wireless deployment to the iPhone or iPad. The only unique part was how you enabled developer mode on the Vision Pro to connect to your development Mac. After enabling the developer setting as you would on any iSO device, while wearing the headset, Go to Settings > General > Remote Devices and select your computer. You can now see your Vision Pro in the Devices and Simulators setting of Xcode.
I had looked into the Apple Developer strap (a $299 add-on only available thru the developer program), but don’t think it is worth the cost at this time. If I were more worried about bricking the device, I believe this is the hardware you’d need to run the Apple Configurator and refresh the headset. Apple had a similar piece of hardware for early Apple Watches, which was used by the Genius Bar to fix a broken watch.
Reading on the Apple Vision Pro
The other productivity aspect I wanted to hit on is reading manuals and other technical documentation. I am a big user of Calibre to make sure that any ebook I purchase is readable on any device of my choosing. I buy books from Amazon for the Kindle, from Apple in the Books App, and from independent ebook sellers like Cory Doctorow who does not DRM his books. Depending on how I am working, I like to have access to the books in the most platform native manner. While the Books App on the Apple Vision Pro is just the iPad version, I figured having a reference book up next to my Mac screen share would be a great test for development.
So far, the iPad app is not quite up to par. It the same issue I’ve had with other iPad apps, the eyesight targets are not consistently visible. I am not sure if this is a VisionOS bug, or just bad UI implementation by the developers of iPad apps. I personally had issues with some of my custom buttons of my own iOS app that I ported to VisionOS. As such I had to remove some of my custom button designs to allow VisionOS to correctly handle targeting.
Headset placement and Comfort
While I tried the default Solo Knit band to start with, and while the headset did pull forward some, it wasn’t too uncomfortable. However, once I switched to the Dual Loop Band, I could wear the headset as long as I wanted without any discomfort. What did happen, about midway thru the week, I started getting a hot forehead. I also started getting a deep red mark on my forehead. This came about the same time that I tried switching from the W to the W+ Light Seal Cushion. I tried switching back to the W after a day and was still having issues. I then finally realized that I had been slowly tightening up the bands to have the headset more and more stationary. This wasn’t because it felt loose or anything, but I guess subconsciously I felt it needed to be tight to the face. After loosening the straps of the Dual Loop Band, thing have gotten back to feeling good.
What was strange, was that after installing VisionOS 1.1 beta, it seems that the eye tracking has gotten worse. I am have issues with some of the targets being recognized. I am hoping that this is a beta issue and will be fixed soon.
The other comfort issue I wanted to touch base on is the Zeiss Optical Inserts. My regular glasses are progressives and I also have astigmatism. I send in my prescription and so far the lenses that I got are working great.
Overall Verdict
Right now I am loving the Apple Vision Pro. As I mentioned, I am easily distracted and the ability to focus on my work is a huge benefit. I have started playing a few of the games, and if you have a big enough space for Fruit Ninja, it is fun. I really enjoyed playing Battleship (reminded me of being a kid again). 3D movies and videos are amazing. And finally, I really need to take more panoramic pictures. I found about 75 in my photo library. Some going back to 2009, some hand stitched together in PhotoShop while on vacation in Prague, some while at rocket launch in Florida, and everyone one of them transported me back to the time and place they were taken. I had even taken one the last time I met my brother, his wife, and my sister for a great dinner in Georgia. It felt like we were sitting in the restaurant, enjoy the wine, and getting ready for another great conversation.